Story

Ashley Reid has been interested in numbers and accounting for a long time. After living in big cities for years, she seized the opportunity for a change of lifestyle and accepted an accounting position in Canmore, Alberta.

Living near Banff National Park in the Rocky Mountains is a dream come true for Ashley. As an avid skier, she tries to take full advantage of her surroundings. However, the cost of moving several thousands of kilometres and taking regular ski trips adds up quickly. Ashley believes that her financial knowledge has allowed her to manage her finances and avoid falling into the debt trap. "I learned early on that there are two ways to manage your personal finances: you can either earn more money or spend less. I decided to choose how I spend my money. When I moved here, I knew I wanted new ski equipment, so I regularly put money aside and I reduced my other expenses as much as possible."

Among her many long-term projects, Ashley would like to buy a home. However, the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada's (FCAC) mortgage tools helped Ashley realize that at this point, it would not be a responsible move. "That's probably one of the greatest things about the FCAC's tools. They allowed me to put things into perspective."

In addition to the mortgage tools, Ashley also recommends FCAC's Credit Card Payment Calculator. "Most people are not aware of all the interest and fees associated with their credit cards," she says. "The calculator shows you how long it will take to pay off your credit card balance if you only make the minimum payments, versus making larger payments to lower your monthly interest."

This success story is part of a series of testimonials that can be viewed on FCAC's website at fcac.gc.ca.

Transcript

I am Ashley Reid and I live in Canmore, Alberta. I have been interested in numbers and accounting for a long time. I did a commerce undergrad and then I started working in accounting and decided to pursue an accounting designation, so I am working towards my CMA. And I chose to leave the corporate life which I had back home, to move out to Canmore for a change of lifestyle. And I found an accounting position out here where I could continue to work towards my designation and enjoy the outdoors.

I live just outside of a national park in the Rocky Mountains and the sky is the limit for outdoor activities, and I do try to take advantage of it as much as possible.

Being financially literate has allowed me to live a more active and more relaxed lifestyle, because I don't have to stress over whether I can pay my bills this month or whether I can go skiing for a day. I can control myself.

I track all of my spending and I monitor all money coming in. And I learned early on that you have two choices when it comes to managing your personal finances: you can either earn more money or you can spend less money. And I have decided to choose how I spend my money. When I moved out here I knew that I wanted all new ski equipment and so regularly I was setting that money aside and minimizing my expenditures on other things. So I would opt for activities that were often free, such as mountain climbing or hiking, or even activities that didn't require a lot of funds such as renting a movie instead of going to a movie. I have always had the mentality of "You need to earn it before you can spend it," so I always set about 10 percent of my salary away and I don't ever look at it. I have done that since my very first paper route.

There's a lot of resources out there to go and find information on financial literacy. There is the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada. You can access tons of resources on managing your personal finances. Some of the tools from the FCAC that I recommend include the Credit Card Calculator as well as the Mortgage Calculator. One of the great things about the Credit Card Payment Calculator is that it allows people to see the difference that it could make in the amount of time to pay off a credit card if you are to make the minimum balance versus making an increased payment to decrease the amount of interest paid on a monthly basis.

Most people are not aware of how much interest and fees are associated with their credit cards. They don't see things like credit balance insurance or life insurance that can all be lumped into the credit card when they first sign up for it, and depending on your circumstances it could be beneficial to call the credit card company and have those fees removed.

The FCAC tools have really allowed me to put things into perspective. I have always had it in the back of my mind that I would like to enter the real estate market, but the mortgage tools have sort of made me realize that at this point it would not be the most responsible move. I think that's probably one of the greatest things about the tools with the FCAC — is that they put charts out and they show you over the term of your mortgage how much interest is paid, how long it takes and it gives you one, two, three, four, five alternatives to pay that off faster. And the sooner that you have it paid off, the sooner you can choose to spend your money on other activities.